Thursday 14 March 2024

Luxmuralis - 'Science' at Lincoln Cathedral

When I heard that Luxmuralis was coming back to Lincoln Cathedral, I booked up as I really enjoyed 'Life' last year.  My blog post about it is here. We were warmly dressed and headed on up last Tuesday night.   This year the presentations were all about 'Chemistry, Biology, molecules, cells, DNA, the history of science, contributions of science to humanity and a reflection on famous scientists past and present' (taken from the description on Youtube).  Above was the development of the study of human anatomy.
The patterns were mesmerising.
I recognised the periodic table...
...and enjoyed watching the development of cells into an embryo...
Equations made some beautiful patterns.
The finale included images of scientists, past and present with their names coming up and I wish this section had been slower so that I could have taken more of it in.  You could stay as long as you wanted up until the Cathedral closed for the night and a lot of people were sitting down to watch.  It was an immersive experience, like being in a giant kaleidoscope, as I said last time.  I am sure it will be a popular event for the Cathedral.
 This video on Youtube will give you a flavour of it - still photos (particularly with a camera which doesn't like low light levels) just don't do it justice.

Tuesday 12 March 2024

All about green

I am enjoying the Whimsies, Words and Watercolours class run by Joanne Sharpe I am doing this year.  Each month, there are pages to complete and one of these is a focus on colour. For March, it is all about green.  We chose nine watercolours, three each of blue, yellow and green and then made a grid mixing them together.  Above is my mixing plate when I had finished - it is almost as pretty as the page in my journal.
Here's the finished mixing grid.  It was a lovely way to spend some time on a rainy Sunday afternoon.  There are a lot of different colours you can make with just nine to start with.  Colour grids or swatches  like these make me happy!

Saturday 2 March 2024

Wanderlust 2024 - Weeks one to eight - Brushes and Tools

I have joined Wanderlust 2024 - the year long mixed media journaling course I have done since 2021. This year, there are star supplies which are the focus for eight week blocks. The first of these is Brushes and Tools.  We started with an overview of brushes and then I created the page above.  With life as it is now, resilience seemed like a good word to choose for the year.  We all need some of that. 
The next week was more calm with a focus on watercolour brushes, using a round brush, a fan brush and a rigger brush (with a toothbrush as well), to create the different effects.  It is based on looking into a rock pool.
Week three was all about a palette knife.  I found this quite tricky but kept on going.
Week Four we used gel plates to make collage papers, some of which we added a tea dye to.  I used a photo I had taken as my inspiration for this, but it has a few imagined details too.  I loved creating this collage.
We had to make our own tools for this one. We wrapped bits of sponge around sticks/skewers and used these to make patterns based on nature.  These then became the background collage.  The sponge sticks made fantastic splats (you can see them in the top right and top left corners).
Using a bottle with a fine liner tip was the next tool. We wrote with it and then outlined a face.  I used a stamp to start with, as my face drawing, while improving a lot, isn't quite there yet.
Paper punches were the tool for week seven.  I don't have any except for a one inch circle, but what I do have a lot of are dies. I used these for the different sized circles and to create the paper lace. My focal image is from The Secret Garden and the muted colours of the image, where Mary is finding the door in the wall, worked beautifully with this page.  I enjoyed creating the shading too, using an inktense pencil and water brush.
Week eight was an 'Artful Musings' week, where we heard about organising a studio space from a mixed media artist.  I created this page, again using collage but adding tissue paper, embossing and some stamping.  The face was a stamp which I then added to, with paint and black pen.

Now we are on to Texture, which should be fun!

Saturday 24 February 2024

Spring is on the way...but more Winter to come yet...probably

It has been very mild recently and the plants are thinking it is nearly Spring.  The hellebores are still looking beautiful but the camellias have now joined in.  I think this is quite early for them, so I am enjoying their flowers in case the frosts get them.  Above is the flower from the unnamed double variety that my Mum gave me. 
Here is another unnamed variety but I think this is a japonica type.
Here is Camellia St Ewe - I bought this a few years ago and it seems happy at the bottom of the garden, in a west facing position.  
I noticed the three flowers in a row and thought they would make a good photo.
I also have a few narcissus Tete a Tete in flower. I do like these small ones and need to get more!
Finally here is my standard cherry - Kojo-no-mai, with its delicate flowers.  Again, this seems quite early, but is telling us that Spring might not be too far away.
 

Tuesday 20 February 2024

Junk Journal January 2024

Last month I took part in Junk Journal January for the first time.  This is organised by Meg from megjournals on Youtube and there is a list of prompts and daily videos from different people showing what they have made. I decided that it would be a good thing to start using some of the paper, digikits, and ephemera I have been collecting and this seemed do-able. Below are some of my favourite pages.
This is 'throwback' so I went for a vintage feeling, making a pretend slide with insects on it.  I made my colleague a birthday card similar to this last year so used some of the digital images I had left over, together with stamps, a postage stamp and some digi labels. 
There was 'eclectic' which was a mix of gel prints, a digikit photo, a die cut flower which I watercoloured, a leaf and a flower I made from last year's art journal, and a label I had inked and stamped.  An eclectic mix indeed, but I like it!!
'Fabric' was a sort of patchwork of scraps with an inked and dried baby wipe used as the focal heart.  
'Ombre' was easy with a watercolour background but I didn't know what I wanted to put on top until I thought about slow drawing so I added these ginkgo leaves, which are so relaxing to draw as they are lots of repeated lines.
'Translucent' was inspired by a piece of gel printed paper. I echoed the brushstroke pattern on a piece of tracing paper to become the translucent element.
Here's what's underneath - music paper, book page, the gel print paper, labels and a digikit camellia.
Finally, here is 'reflect' which I took to be reflecting on the whole Junk Journal January experience.  This page has a piece of paper pad, labels, book pages, ivy from a napkin, a piece of packaging from some bulbs and a digikit photo.  

I made this little journal for the challenge and I really enjoyed filling the small pages. Junk Journal July is also a challenge, so I may join in with that too.

Tuesday 13 February 2024

Snowdrops 2024

We last visited this ancient cemetery in February 2021, when gardens that usually had snowdrops to visit were closed.  You can read about it here.  On the spur of the moment, making the most of a sunny morning we decided to head out again, so that I could get a snowdrop fix!  I do have a few snowdrops in the garden, but I love to see them in drifts.
There were lots of snowdrops and aconites and a few crocuses.
They were all enjoying the winter sunshine.
The trees made some lovely shadows too.
The tree bark was very textured.  There are London Plane trees, Sycamores and Limes here.
You can see the aconites better in this photo.
We were lucky that it was so quiet, with not many people about and we could enjoy the lovely birdsong as we wandered.
Just beautiful!
The blue sky was such a bonus and the tree branches made a wonderful tracery.
It isn't a very big space, but was a lovely place to spend some time with nature.

Thursday 1 February 2024

Good things to come

I am enjoying wandering round the garden at the moment.  Above are some snowdrops in the border, tantalisingly close to being fully open.  These tall ones, probably Elwesii or something similar were from my Mum's garden many years ago.  They may need to be divided, if I could ever remember to do this at the right time!
More promise of things to come. Here is a camellia, probably a japonica  which was a present from Mum and I have no idea what variety it is. It is a double and has nice plump flower buds.  It needs to be in a bigger pot now.
I was pruning some of my roses this afternoon and the scent from the winter flowering honeysuckle was lovely. The scent is best on a sunny day and it is like lily of the valley - a fresh, delicious scent.  As I have said before, this is a straggly birds' nest of a shrub but all is forgiven when it is flowering on a sunny day!

Tuesday 30 January 2024

Welcome Hellebores

I love seeing the hellebores starting to flower. While Winter is not over, they are always a promise of Spring.  These are all grown in pots and are ahead of the hellebores in the border.  Above is the rich plum/pink of Hello Ruby.
The deep colour of the petals contrasts beautifully with the green/lemon stamens.
Hellebore Eric Smithii Winter Sunshine is proving itself to be a reliable and floriferous addition to the garden. 
The pink buds open to a white/pink flower, with a touch of green.
This is Hello White Pearl which is again a reliable performer. The pink speckling is so pretty - it almost looks like a lily flower.
There are more flowers to come.
Hellebore Princess Victoria is on the way - her flowers are a deep purply/red.
This is Hellebore Harvington Pink.  It is a really pretty pink but has seemed a little shy, not flowering last year.  There are three flowers on that stem, so I shall enjoy watching them grow.

My newly planted (in December) grape hyacinths are starting to grow too so I am watching them (with some excitement!).  They should have a pale blue flower.  I do like this time of year with the promise of lovely things to come.